Playing by Ear One-Shots
by NikuKnight
Summary: One-shots in the same universe as my other story, Playing by Ear! Basically fluff and misadventures. Also most of these are pretty old, heh.
1. On Patrol: Disturbed Sleep

**Welcome to the Playing by Ear one-shots! This is just somehwere for me to write while I'm stuck on the main story. Chapters might be varying lengths, but mostly short. Like, _really_ short. **

**For new readers, if it's not already apparent, these are in the same universe as my other story, Playing by Ear. I mean, it's certainly possible to read one without the other, but if you read this one first you may be playing some guessing games.**

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1\. On Patrol: Disturbed Sleep

"Haaaaaaah!"

Robin started at the cry. It sounded like Merra; was she being attacked? He hurried over to her tent, as he was the one on patrol tonight. Readying his thunder tome, he burst in, only…she was asleep?

He let the thunder spell on his fingertips die out, confused. The girl out of her world looked disquieted, but had very much been alone prior to his abrupt entry.

She suddenly let out a choked gasp, hands flying to her side, all the while eyes closed and unaware of the world around her. Was she always this active in her sleep?

Robin shook the thoughts out of his head. Her dream had obviously taken a turn for the worse, if her pained expression was anything to go by. The least he could do was stop standing around like a creep and wake her up.

"Merra." He leaned over, about to put a hand on her shoulder to wake her, when, with only a cry as a warning, a fist came out of nowhere and hit him square in the nose. "Shit!" He reeled back in surprised pain, dropping his tome and gripping his nose with both hands.

Merra awoke with a gasp, shaking out her hand from the punch. She squinted, trying to see through eyes that were blurry from sleep, as usual. "Robin?" Her eyes widened as she realized what had just happened. "Oh shit I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"

Robin gingerly held his bleeding nose, attempting to smile reassuringly. "I'm fine, but I should be asking you. You were shouting in your sleep and it looked like you were having a nightmare."

"Oh, the yelling? That wasn't fear, that was a battle cry!" Her face morphed into a scowl. "Dammit, I was about to win that time too!" She crossed her arms and pouted. She hated waking up prematurely from exciting dreams.

"Augh…Do you know where Lissa's tent is?" Robin asked when it became apparent that the bleeding would not stop.

Merra stopped her pouting, realizing the damage was worse than she thought, and thus more important than her dreamly woes. "Yeah, um, I'll walk you there. Sorry."

"It's fine, I'll be okay." He lifted his hand from his face, allowing her to actually see the damage. Red circles were already forming under his eyes, and the swelling bloody nose didn't make it look any better.

"Oh my gods, I broke it didn't I?" She realized. "I'm so sorry!"

"Stop apologizing," Robin tried wiping the blood off his face, but only managed to smear it. "You were asleep. It was my fault for forgetting your violent unconscious tendencies. Better?" He looked at Merra so she could get a good look at his face.

"You look like a delinquent who just lost a fight." She said with a hint of amusement.

"Thanks," he sarcastically replied.

The duo stopped awkwardly outside Lissa's tent.

"I'll wake her up," Merra volunteered.

Robin nodded. "Sure."

"No need," came Lissa's annoyed voice. "Your talking did that for you."

"Oops." Merra cringed. "Sorry?"

"Yeah, yeah." Lissa's face emerged from the tent flap. "What do you need me—What happened to your face?!"

"I thought Merra was having a nightmare, so I tried to wake her up." Robin said regretfully.

"I punched him." Merra delivered with a straight face.

Lissa gaped, before coming back to her senses. "Okay. Come in I guess."

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 **A/N: I am a very violent sleeper, and thus, so is Merra. This has already been shown somewhat in the main story, but I had way too much fun and had to write this too.**

 **Let's see…I have indeed punched someone in the face in my sleep. The hardest punch I've ever thrown was in my sleep, though it wasn't the same punch I got my friend with, don't worry. I woke up from the pain because I hit the wall, and my knuckle was swollen for the rest of the day. Just last night I kicked the wall hard enough to dent it, so now there's a hole in the wall by my bed. Yaaaaaay.**

 **I also cuss a lot in my sleep. Loudly. Which is hilarious because even though I've used some language in PbE, I really don't cuss that much in real life? Only when the situation is dire, extremely unexpected, or I just woke up from a particularly violent dream. The times Merra has cussed in PbE have mostly fallen under the first two categories.**

 **I remember when I was in Australia and had to share hotel rooms with some of the other girls on the trip. We were all talking about odd things we do in our sleep, and I brought up my violent language and behavior. They all deadpanned, "We _know,_ " in the most done voices ever. Now that I think about it, it was kind of a mean response…**


	2. On Patrol: Lesson Learned

3\. On Patrol: Lesson Learned

"Fucking shit! You son of a bitch motherfucker!"

Robin's eyebrows rose at the crude language. He glanced at Merra's tent, the source of the expletives, but did not go to wake her up. He'd learned his lesson.

He touched his nose in the memory of the consequences of that lesson. Yup, definitely best to leave her be.


	3. Midnight Comforts

**Okay, so I got positive feedback already! That's more than I could have hoped for, so here's the sappier-than-syrup one-shot I was holding onto. I wrote this one first; It's pretty self-indulgent. I could spend all day pointing out faults and defending them, but I'll shut up and let the story speak for itself.**

 **This takes place during the two-year gap. So, um, enjoy?**

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3\. Midnight Comforts

Almost silently I padded down the dark hall in the direction of his room. Every pop of my joints sounded like a gunshot to my ears, only serving to drive me forward with renewed vigor.

As I neared my goal the hallway lightened, which could mean a number of things. The most likely option was that Robin had fallen asleep on his tomes again. He was going to burn his desk down one day, falling asleep and leaving the candles unattended.

Finally I reached the door, and debated what to do. Knocking would be polite, but if he was asleep at his desk I wouldn't want to wake him up until I was in there to guide him to bed. But peeking in was the other option, and if he was awake and noticed me that would be awkward as heck.

I settled on knocking lightly. If he was asleep, he probably wouldn't hear it, but if he was awake he would.

No answer.

Cautiously I peeked past the door, which gave a traitorous creak. Really?

"Can't sleep?" Robin looked up from his studies. Ah, guess my knocking had been _too_ quiet.

"Nightmare," I responded sheepishly. "What about you?"

"Lost track of time," he replied, just as sheepish.

"Is that important?" I asked, indicating the tomes. "I can go somewhere else…" As much as I wanted his comfort, I also didn't want to be a hinderance. Although, judging by the bags under his eyes, it was about time Robin called it a night too.

"Don't. It's not as important as you." He stood and opened the door the rest of the way, engulfing me in a hug. I hugged back, tightly, just to make sure he was real. "Merra?"

"I'm glad you're here," was all I could say.

Reading between the lines, he understood. "Come on," he coaxed, releasing the hug. He took my hand, guiding me towards the bed and blowing out the candle as he went.

Wow. This was exactly the opposite of how I thought this would go.

As this was not the first time this had happened, we wordlessly situated ourselves so I was the big spoon. I'd rather hold onto what's precious to me than be held. That, and I was taller anyway.

"It wasn't a violent nightmare." I confessed. "I'm learning how to deal with those. It wasn't even particularly bad to experience, but the thought that I couldn't come back…" I blinked away tears. This wasn't important enough to cry over. It wasn't even real.

Robin rolled over to look at me. "It's okay, Merra."

I shook my head. "I was back in my world. Nothing had changed. It was as if I had never left, only I still remembered everything from being here. No one believed me when I said I wasn't supposed to be there. I know I should have been happy to be home…but that's not home anymore."

"I'm sorry…" And he did look sorry, too. He wasn't just saying it to make me feel better. He couldn't relate, but he could see how much it affected me, and he cared.

A warm, fuzzy feeling grew in my chest. Not knowing how to deal with it, I made a circling motion with my finger. Robin smiled and rolled his eyes, but rolled back over anyway so we could spoon properly. My arms circled around to his front, which he held in a firm grip.

"I'm glad you're here too." Robin murmured.

The warm, fuzzy feeling became all-encompassing. Was this was love felt like?

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 **A/N: So this is pretty much the extent of the relationship between Robin and Merra. They don't tell each other "I love you," even if it's true to a certain extent. Honestly, those three words make me uncomfortable, because I've never been able to truthfully return them before. I'm not sure how I (or Merra) would feel if Robin ever said them. I don't know how to define romantic love, but I'm pretty sure I've never felt it before. Since fanfiction is strictly hypothetical, I can't say for sure whether I or Merra would have romantic feelings for Robin either! But there's definitely _something_ there, and I'd like to think that's enough. **

**But this? Call it romantic if you want, because it was certainly written that way! Warm fuzzies and all.**


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